Nvidia, a bellwether for AI chipmakers, will release its first earnings report since a Chinese upstart, DeepSeek, upended the artificial-intelligence industry by saying it has developed a large language model that can compete with big U.S. rivals without having to use the most expensive chips.
That's called into question all the spending Wall Street had assumed would go into not only Nvidia’s chips but also the ecosystem that’s built around the AI boom, including electricity to power large data centers.
Nvidia shares rose 2.1% in premarket trading, getting back a chunk of the 2.8% it lost Tuesday.
Shares of another company riding the artificial intelligence wave, Super Micro Computer, soared 22% before markets opened as it finally got up to date with its regulatory filings. The California company, whose stock had taken a beating after its accounting firm quit last year, on Tuesday announced that it had filed its financial reports for fiscal 2024 and the first and second quarter of 2025.
On Thursday, the U.S. Commerce Department will issue its third and final estimate of how the U.S. economy performed in the fourth quarter of 2024 later in the day. The economy still appears to be in solid shape, and growth is continuing at the moment. But recently, weaker than expected economic reports have siphoned away some of the momentum that took Wall Street to repeated records in recent months.
“What was supposed to be a soft-landing narrative is quickly turning into a hard dose of reality,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a report. “The U.S. economic backdrop is shifting sharply lower, a stark contrast to the euphoria that defined the start of ’25. And now, investors are scrambling to adjust their positioning on the fly,” he said.
In a vote almost entirely along party lines Tuesday, House Republicans passed a budget blueprint that includes $4.5 trillion in tax breaks and $2 trillion in spending cuts across federal programs and services. The vote was 217-215, with a single Republican and all Democrats opposed.
There's still a ways to go before the bill can become law. Weeks of committee hearings will be held to draft the details before the House version is sent to the Senate, where Republicans passed their own scaled-back version.
In Europe at midday Germany's DAX rose 1.6%, the CAC 40 in Paris jumped 1.3% and Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.6%.
Chinese markets led gains, lifted by strong buying of technology shares.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 3.4% to 23,811.21, while the Shanghai Composite index added 0.8% to 3,372.74.
Hong Kong-traded shares in food delivery company Meituan surged 9.8%, while e-commerce giant Alibaba gained 4.8%. Gaming and technology company Tencent Holdings advanced 3.4% and search engine and AI company Baidu was up 3.3%.
Such companies have regained some strength as Beijing has indicated stronger support for the private sector after years of crackdowns on tech companies.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index shed 0.3% to 38,142.37. Big Japanese trading companies slipped following gains driven by billionaire Warren Buffett's disclosure in his annual letter to shareholders that he increased Berkshire Hathaway's investments in those companies.
The Kospi in Seoul rose 0.4% to 2,641.09.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gave up 0.1% to 8,240.70. In Taiwan, the Taiex gained 0.5%. Thailand's SET was up 0.9%.
Also early Wednesday, Bitcoin stabilized around $88,370 after losing more than 8% of its value over the past five days.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP